PASADENA – A panel of environmental, geological and transportation experts spoke to a crowd of about 300 activists Tuesday at a forum on the 710 Freeway extension organized by Councilman Steven Madison.

Five of the six panelists at the Convention Center, hailing from Caltech, Pasadena Heritage, USC’s Keck School of Medicine and the city of Glendale, spent more than an hour listing reason after reason why the 710 extension would have negative impacts on the surrounding communities.

The sole voice in support of the project was Stephen Klein, the principal-in-charge for Metro’s 710 project study, who cited traffic congestion relief as a key benefit of the freeway, evoking boos from the crowd.

Madison, a long-time opponent of any extension, called the freeway a “threat” to local communities.

“It’s ironic that we’re having this forum in the (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified Convention Center,” Madison said of the meeting place. “This is the kind of project we like to build in Pasadena, not freeways through historic neighborhoods.”

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino and a representative from Huntington Hospital also spoke to the crowd, many sporting “No 710” T-shirts.

The L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is currently studying five alternatives for the 4.5-mile 710 gap closure: “no build,” traffic-management technology, bus, light rail and a twin-bore underground freeway tunnel.

Klein also argued that the tunnel could reduce air pollution in local cities, as the exhaust fumes would be “scrubbed” of pollutants.

He also assured the audience that any tunnel would be engineered for earthquake safety and soil conditions would be monitored for its construction.

“This project could actually improve your quality of life,” Klein said. “People in traffic could spend more time with their families and friends. … I think you have to be objective about what the benefits of the projects could be.”

But Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist from Caltech who researches earthquakes, said he has serious concerns about how the tunnel would hold up in an earthquake. He said although many people think a tunnel would be completely safe, many have collapsed or been damaged in recent global quakes.

John Seinfeld, an atmospheric researcher with Caltech, said the 710 freeway already pumps harmful gases and particles into the air.

“Those of us in the field of air quality in urban areas … have long considered the 710 freeway to be arguably the dirtiest freeway in the country,” Seinfeld said. “And that really is a function of the heavy-duty truck traffic on the freeway.”

These particles and gases cause serious health problems for those living or going to school along the freeway, especially children, said Rob McConnell of USC’s Keck School of Medicine. He said numerous studies have shown that air pollution can cause asthma, heart disease and lung cancer.

Sue Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, said the 710 project area is “one of the worst transportation proposals in its effect on historic structures.” Vibrations from a freeway tunnel and air pollution could pose a serious threat to historic buildings, she said.

Ara Najarian, a Glendale councilman and Metro board member, said his biggest concern is the cost of the proposed tunnel.

“Ranges of official tunnel estimates that have come through are as low as $1 billion up to $14 billion,” Najarian said. “This is crazy, right? How can we start down the road to build something if we have no idea where it’s going to land?”

Metro Spokeswoman Helen Ortiz-Gilstrap said she thought that many of the facts the panelists presented were inaccurate and had “little to do” with Metro’s current 710 study.

“I think the public would have been better served had there been thorough fact-checking (with Metro) and had it been less biased content,” she said.

Former San Gabriel Councilman Harry Baldwin, of the 710 Freeway Coalition, said he thought the panel was “pretty one-sided” and hewed to a certain agenda. Baldwin said the coalition plans to organize events in the future to educate the public about the benefits of the freeway.

“There is a lot of information that really needs to come out about this project and the tunnel,” Baldwin said.

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